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How to Cast Miniatures in a two part mold: Page 3 Casting the second half of the rubber mold

In this part of the tutorial we cast the second half of the rubber mold. This is page three of the tutorial on how to cast a two part miniature rubber mold. If you came to this page directly from a search engine you can start at the beginning of this tutorial here.

Once the rubber has vulcaninzed (solidified) you can take apart the whole mold and remove the clay from it. You won't need this clay anymore. Don't discard your cardboard frame. Just cut it on one corner and peel it away from the clay and rubber. You will need this cardboard frame.

I have removed the cardboard and separated the clay and rubber. Inspect and clean up the rubber mold. If you used small rubber spheres as register marks you should leave them in place.

Use a sharp utility or hobby knife to clean up any excess rubber. And make sure you clean any clay off the rubber mold.

Leave the miniature embedded in the rubber and if you used toothpicks leave them in too. Just clean up around the edges of the mini and toothpick with a sharp hobby knife.

Remove the clay spheres. The second half of the mold will fill into the spaces left behind.

Now rebuild the box around the rubber old as shown in this picture. The rubber mold should be lined up with the bottom of the box. This empty space on top is where we will cast the second half of the rubber mold.

If you have a mold release spray (recommended but not mandatory) spray the surface of the rubber and the miniature then use a brush to brush it evenly over all the surfaces. This will make it easier to separate the two rubber halves.

Just as you did with the first half of the rubber mold mix up the two parts of the rubber then pour it slowly and thinly into the mold. Stay in one corner and let the rubber fill in everything on its own. Make sure you make it thick enough so it covers the whole miniature with a good half an inch extra above the mini.

Let it dry according to the manufactures instructions. I used Smooth-On rubber which takes a full six hours to cure.

Once it is dried you can remove the mold from the cardboard frame. You can discard the cardboard unless you want to use it to make another mold. But for this mold you are done with it.

Separate the two halves of the mold and remove the miniature and toothpicks if you used them. Use a very sharp hobby knife to trim off any excess rubber, particularly at the toothpick breathing hole.

Your rubber mold is complete. Next we can cast the actual duplicate miniature.